Senior Director, Data Engineering

Summary

Join Upwork, the world's largest work marketplace, as a Senior Director of Data Engineering to lead the development and evolution of their Data Platform team. You will be responsible for shaping scalable data infrastructure, driving data strategy across the organization, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure high-quality data powers decision-making and innovation. This role offers the opportunity to revolutionize how data is leveraged at Upwork and make a meaningful impact on their platform and users.

Requirements

• Proven experience leading and scaling data engineering or platform engineering teams in high-growth environments
• Experience with key components of modern data ecosystems, including orchestration tools (e.g., DBT, Apache Airflow), scalable data processing (e.g., Apache Spark), and cloud-native data architectures (e.g., AWS, GCP, or Azure)
• Strong technical foundation in building and optimizing ETL/ELT pipelines, working with both SQL and NoSQL databases, and implementing data observability, monitoring, and query performance tuning
• Familiarity with enterprise-grade data platforms and storage solutions, including data lake and warehouse technologies such as Snowflake
• Understanding of machine learning architecture integration within data platforms, supporting experimentation and model deployment workflows
• Strong track record of cross-functional collaboration, particularly with marketing, finance, engineering, and data science
• Experience managing teams distributed across time zones, with a focus on inclusive and effective remote-first practices
• Ability to define a long-term vision for data architecture while ensuring day-to-day operational excellence

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing data engineering team, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and accountability
• Define the vision, strategy, and execution roadmap for Upwork’s Data Platform to support the company’s growth and analytics needs
• Build and scale reliable, efficient data infrastructure and data processing pipelines that support real-time and batch data workflows
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners in marketing, finance, engineering, and data science to ensure alignment on data priorities and outcomes
• Oversee data governance, quality, and best practices to ensure the availability of accurate, actionable insights
• Drive technical excellence while balancing trade-offs between short-term delivery and long-term platform scalability
• Foster strong communication and coordination across a globally distributed team

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical coverage for you and your family
• Unlimited PTO
• 401(k) plan with matching
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan